Those two words can strike fear into the heart of many a European. They can also, with the necessary political spin, win or lose elections that side of the pond.

Britain is known for deporting asylum seekers not fit to travel, never mind fit to return to a country where they could be killed. In January 2008, the Brits kicked out Ama Sumani, a Ghanaian mother of two being kept alive on dialysis for bone marrow cancer. She had overstayed her visa. Sumani died in Accra a few weeks later, unable to access treatment.

In Australia, asylum seekers arriving in boats were, until very recently, either left to drown on the high seas or locked up in refugee prisons. Most were fleeing wars in Asia and the Middle East in which Australia was engaged. Years behind barbed wire and cement walls turned these people, who had already experienced horrors most will never know, into dysfunctional basket cases. Psychologists in Australia diagnosed some of the worst instances of posttraumatic stress disorder they had seen after refugees and their children spent months, sometimes years, in these confinement centres.

Sometime after the Cold War, when many claimants were “good” refugees escaping communism, the words refugee and asylum seeker became synonymous with illegal opportunistic aliens pounding down our Western doors and threatening to change the face of our “civilized” society.

This is baseless if you think about it. If I was prepared to get into a boat with my family and the few belongings I own and sail across unknown treacherous waters to some foreign country where I could be arrested or worse, my life at home would have to really suck.

Gay asylum seekers, like the vast majority of those prepared to forever leave their countries, are most often fleeing the prospect of murder, torture, arrest or a life in isolation.

The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission notes of Senegal that it is a “country in which same-sex relations are illegal, homophobia is widespread, and incitement toward violence against those perceived to be lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender is often encouraged by politicians and religious leaders.”

This could describe many countries in Africa and the Middle East where life for gays remains nasty and brutish.

Canada’s track record on this front has been spotty. While the Harper Conservatives have made international public overtures about the need to decriminalize homosexuality, their behaviour at home has been much less commendable. For example, in 2008 they deported Kulenthiran Amirthalingam to Malaysia, where he had already spent time behind bars because he is gay.

Canada’s guidelines for accepting refugees are based on the United Nations’ 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. This document does not make explicit provisions for gay refugees, so it is incumbent on claimants to prove not only that they are gay, but also that their sexuality would put them at danger in their home countries.

It is peculiar that those who have spent their lives trying to conceal and deny their sexuality have to then turn around and prove they are gay in the refugee application process.

Last March, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney announced a pilot project with the Rainbow Refugee Committee to help sponsor gay refugees who face persecution. At the time Kenney said Canada has a history of being a safe haven, noting that reaching out to private sponsors was “vital to refugees in need of protection.”

But in December, the government changed its mind, instead proposing rule changes that both the Rainbow Refugee Committee and the Canadian Council for Refugees say will make it much harder for gay refugees to find safety in Canada.

The government can still change its mind again and bolster Canada’s reputation as a global safe haven for gay refugees.

If Stephen Harper truly wants to create change for gay people abroad, he can start at home, opening the doors wide for all those who would be killed or arrested elsewhere. Currently, there is no international institution that attends exclusively to the issue of gay and lesbian refugees. Canada should take the lead in launching such an organization. If the government does nothing and continues to backtrack on promises to the gay community, both Canadians and despotic, homophobic world leaders will know our government’s pro-gay statements are nothing but empty words.

Comments

In terms of refugees, page 290 of the report notes that: (1) Ontarios refugee population must also be considered in the context of Ontarios overall immigration levels and the skills required to support economic and labour-market growth. In 2010, Ontario received 56.3 per cent of all refugees accepted into Canada. (2) The incidence of social assistance attachment for refugees is substantial, at a considerable cost for society and the provincial treasury. Studies have shown that refugees experience much higher rates of unemployment, part-time employment and temporary employment than do Canadian-born individuals. Refugees are also less likely to have their credentials recognized in Canada. Refugees have complex needs and typically require more supports than other classes of immigrants. Although they receive initial federal support, provincial social services are unavoidably required. (3) Moreover, refugee claimants  those who request asylum upon landing in Canada  are not eligible for such federally funded services as language instruction and information and referral services, and thus rely directly on provincial supports until their immigration status is settled. In 2010, Ontario received 65 per cent of refugee claimants who arrived in Canada. A copy of the report is at http://www.fin.gov.on.ca/en/reformcommission/index.html

I dont think there will be a lot of support to open Ontarios doors to even more refugees. According to The Globe and Mail, the report delivered on February 15, 2012 to the Ontario government by economist Don Drummond warns that Ontario is in the midst of a sea change driven by the decline of its manufacturing sector and shifting demographics. If left unchecked, Ontarios deficit will swell to $30.2-billion by 2018, or more than double last years figure. In order to correct that course, the report says annual spending growth must be held at 0.8 per cent over seven years  a target that, given population growth and inflation, actually will require a 16.2 per cent cut in program spending over that period for every man, woman and child in the province. See: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/drummond-delivers-gloomy-wake-up-call-to-ontario/article2339489/

Were not really helping gay rights in other countries if we take all their best and brightest out of there, we're just gonna end up with a few gay-ghetto countries that the rest of the world holds up as an example of western decadence.